The History of the Potlatch Collection
Potlatch: a strict law bids us to dance
We dance to celebrate life, to show we are grateful for all our treasures. We must dance to show our history, since our history is always passed on in songs and dances. It is very important to tell the stories in exactly the same way. We put our stories into songs and into dances so they will not change. They will be told the same way every time. We use theatre and impressive masks to tell our ancestor’s adventures so the people witnessing the dance will remember it.
The ceremony to tell our stories and to show social changes such as birth, marriage, name giving, standing up a new chief and death is called a Potlatch. In the Chinook language it means ‘to give’. The people we invite are not only guests. They are also witnesses of our Potlatch and we give them presents for being a witness.
In the 1870's, two coastal entrepreneurs leased and pre-empted land on Cormorant Island for a fish saltery. They induced the ʼNa̱mǥis First Nation (Nimpkish Band) to move from their traditional village site on the Nimpkish River (Xwa̱lkw) to Alert Bay (ʼYa̱lis) to provide a source of labour for the saltery. Missionary Rev. Alfred Hall arrived and for the Indian's spiritual needs, built a church, for their educational needs, a school was built and for their further integration into the labour force, a saw mill. Land, commerce, church, education and with the arrival in the 1880's of an Indian agent, the final element - government administration - was added.
- Every Indian or other person who engages in or assists in celebrating the Indian festival known as the "Potlatch" or the Indian dance known as the "Tamanawas" is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not more than six nor less than two months in a jail or other place of confinement.
- Any Indian or other person who encourages, either directly or indirectly an Indian or Indians to get up such a festival or dance, or to celebrate the same, or who shall assist in the celebration of same is guilty of a like offence, and shall be liable to the same punishment.
For some time, the law was virtually ignored, its wording was so vague as to make it meaningless in court and it proved difficult to enforce. The Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw continued to potlatch until the law was revised and worded so carefully and all inclusive as to make even a guest at an Indian Christmas dinner liable to six months imprisonment. In 1921, Dan Cranmer hosted a big potlatch at Village Island (ʼMimkwa̱mlis). According to Dan Cranmer's recollection, the reasons for having the potlatch at Village Island were to avoid the Indian agent and that was where his wife's relatives were. Indian agent Halliday and Sgt. Angerman now had their chance to arrest and prosecute the Indians. Forty-five people were arrested and charged with various crimes, such as giving speeches, dancing, carrying and receiving gifts at the potlatch. Of those convicted of offences, twenty-two were given suspended sentences.
Halliday arranged to store the confiscated goods in the Anglican Parish Hall at Alert Bay. For awhile, the goods were put on display there, and admission was charged. Halliday and other amateur photographers were able to add the masks to their album. Halliday sold 33 pieces to a collector, Mr. George Heye, of New York. Although Halliday "viewed his action" as consistent with the object of securing as much money as possible for the Indians. The department, however, responded immediately with a reprimand for Halliday's "unwarranted action".
The greater part of the collection was crated and shipped east and divided between the Victoria Memorial Museum, later the National Museum of Man and now the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendant of the Department of Indian Affairs, selected some of the pieces for his private collection. A few of the pieces ended up in the private collection of Sgt. Donald Angerman, of the B.C. Police, the arresting officer and prosecutor at the trials, later donated by B.E. Angerman in 1926 to the National Museum of the American Indian. In a letter dated October 9, 1922, to the curator of the Victoria Memorial Museum, Scott stated: "It is understood, of course, that these curios are to remain the property of the Dept. of Indian Affairs although housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum."
Negotiations continue for the remaining 24 artifacts. The last remaining artifact (a transformation mask NMAI catalogue number 11/5224) was transferred November 16, 1936 to the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum in Chislehurst, Kent, England. From there it was transferred to its current location, the British Museum. This mask is now on long-term loan at the U'mista Cultural Centre.
However, there are an undetermined number of objects whose whereabouts are unknown. The U'mista Cultural Society will continue to seek the repatriation of those objects when they are located.
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